


An Unusual Fear

by Gumnut



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Brothers, Family, Fear, Gen, Phobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26613910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gumnut/pseuds/Gumnut
Summary: Gordon has an unusual fear and brothers are annoying.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	An Unusual Fear

“Shut up, Alan.”

Gordon sat in his co-pilot’s seat, arms crossed over his chest not pouting. No, not pouting at all.

Annoying younger brothers.

Okay, he only had one, but sometimes he was the worst.

“I’m just trying to understand, Gords. What exactly scares you?”

“I’m not scared.”

“You squealed like a girl.” His older brother’s voice was much deeper than Alan’s and took Gordon a little by surprise.

“Shut up, Virgil.” Big brothers could be just as annoying.

The engineer shrugged a little. “Hey, just trying to help here.”

Gordon grunted at him. “I’m not scared.” No, he wasn’t.

He was terrified.

“I get scared.” Alan was being that blatantly honest, cute younger brother now. His blue eyes were ever so earnest. “There is nothing wrong with being scared.”

“I’m not scared!”

Virgil opened his mouth again and Gordon wished he had a pair of rolled up socks he could shove between his brother’s teeth. “Alan’s right. There is no shame in having a little fear. It’s healthy.”

This wasn’t healthy. This was stupid.

Gordon stared out the front windows of Thunderbird Two and tried to pretend his brothers didn’t exist.

He had squealed like a girl. He hadn’t known what was in the box, though really, he should have expected it.

Stupid Australia with its stupid wildlife. They were supposed to save people, not pets.

But the kid had been screaming for his little Ernie and Edna. There had been enough time and Alan had darted back into the apartment to grab the pets. The fact Alan had had to hurriedly hand the box to Gordon in order to secure the pod was incidental.

Gordon didn’t know what was in the box and Alan didn’t know Gordon had a problem.

Docking with Two, they clambered out to check on the rescuees they had transferred up to Virgil. Gordon’s foot caught on one of the pod assembly rails just as Two took a nasty gust of wind to one side and shifted just a little.

A yelp and the aquanaut, arms full of box went down.

Unable to catch himself properly, and desperately trying to protect the box because he knew there was a life form in there, he landed hard.

The box slipped from his grip.

It teetered and fell on its side.

And Gordon came face to face with a pair of large lizards.

Okay, so he had screamed like a girl. But if Virgil had said that in front of Kayo, he would have been flipped onto the floor and then made to squeal himself, baritone or no. Their sister was not one for stereotypes.

At all.

Now Gordon loved all creatures…well, most. There were certain humans that he felt quite strongly the universe could do without, but that was beside the point. Gordon loved mother nature and all her weird and wonderful creations.

But since his encounter with the giant bearded dragons while rescuing Buddy and Ellie, his mind had taken the concept and run with it.

There had been nightmares.

Many nightmares.

And lizards had become a thing.

Not a thing that he encountered very often.

But a thing.

And to be confronted by two rather large and scalies unexpectedly…

Well, he had reacted.

Fight or flight had become flight and he had removed himself from their presence very abruptly and, according to Alan, quite comically.

Annoying younger brothers.

The kid rescuee had run over, gathered up his pets and hugged and petted and loved all over them, all while Gordon’s skin tried to crawl into his hair.

Ugh.

Ultimately, Gordon had made it out of the module and the rescuees had since been transported to a safe location.

They were now on their way home…to no doubt another round of ‘ridicule the Fish because he’s a scaredy cat’.

He found himself staring at the dash as Virgil brought the huge cargo plane in to land on her runway.

Nothing was said as they taxied into the hangar, Two pivoting ever so gracefully.

Virgil’s hands danced smoothly over the controls and her engines whined down to silence, her airframe settling and creaking as she lost heat.

No one moved.

“Gordon?” Virgil’s voice was soft.

“What?” He didn’t look at his brother. Still not pouting.

“We’ll keep this confidential. Right, Alan?”

Gordon looked up in surprise to find his little brother nodding vehemently.

“Really?” C’mon, with such an opportunity for brotherly humiliation? The squeal was probably recorded for all to see. He frowned. Blackmail. They wanted it for blackmail.

But to Gordon’s astonishment, Virgil poked at the dash and brought up the recording. The aquanaut flinched as he saw his reaction on film. At least Alan was honest. If it hadn’t been himself, it would have been absolutely hilarious.

As it was, it just made him feel ashamed with the urge to curl up and die.

Virgil’s fingers darted over the recording, marking key frames. “Computer delete selected recording.”

A confirmation window came up and Virgil didn’t hesitate, his fingers deleting the incriminating scene.

Gordon’s eyes widened. Scott and John would kill him if they found out. Mission recording was a protection for all of them and deleting was blasphemy. Even Gordon had never been daring enough to mess with mission documentation before.

“But Scott…what about Brains?” Hell, John could be staring over their shoulders right now.

Virgil half smiled at him. “You let me worry about that. You just promise me that if want to talk, you come to me.”

“Or me.” Alan piped up behind them.

Gordon opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He stared at his older brother and the honesty in those eyes. A glance at Alan and he found the same.

His shoulders dropped. “It’s so stupid.”

“No fear is stupid, Gordon. It is still fear and needs to be respected. Fear is never a laughing matter.”

Gordon didn’t miss Virgil’s eyes darting in Alan’s direction as if needing to press the point. Alan frowned back at him.

But then the moment was gone and Virgil was going through post-flight, Alan was climbing out of his seat complaining that his uniform stunk – it did, Gordon could smell it from here, but none of them could talk, they all stunk.

But as his two brothers did their thing, Gordon found a swell of fondness rising in his belly. It washed away the grump and the pout.

And he found himself smiling a little shyly.

“Thanks, guys.”

Virgil returned his smile. Alan threw him a smirk before darting to the hatch and lowering himself down.

Okay, they were annoying, but they were his brothers and that was the part that counted.

-o-o-o-

FIN.


End file.
